Visits with My Brother and Family - AKA The Foozball Game

My brother and his family was in town last week and it was such an awesome visit. My nephew's football team was going to be playing a game at Wide World of Sports and I was beyond excited because it was my first time seeing him play.

We started out the visit by going to dinner at Trails End over at Fort Wilderness, which honestly, we had never been to before. Definitely check it out, it's a fantastic buffet (and I hate buffets). The only downside was that the bathrooms were on the other side of the building, next to Hoop De Doo. Normally, this would not be an issue, but there was a monsoon that night and someone (Jill) had to pee twice during dinner. One of those times was during a downpour. Aside from the rain, it was an awesome dinner.

We met up the next day at Magic Kingdom and it was hot. Like really hot. Like I'm sure we were melting at one point. The visit definitely required a visit to the Plaza ice cream shop. Jill discovered a new favorite flavor while we were there, birthday cake.

While hanging at Magic Kingdom was awesome, the real reason why everyone was there was to see Jeffery play the foozball. We planned our arrival at Wide World of Sports perfectly because we were able to watch the team walk in. Aaron literally lost his mind when he saw Jeffy. He ran up, high fived him and was upset that he couldn't hang with the team.

We had a lot of time to kill before the game, so we grabbed some dinner and then...the rain came. Thankfully we were able to hang out in the field house and watch a basketball practice.

But then the rain didn't stop...

It kept raining....

And raining...

And lightening...

And thundering....

And raining....

3 hours. It stormed for 3 hours.

Needless to say we were inside for the 3 hours waiting out the storm. Every time we thought the storm was passing a flash of lightening would appear. It was brutal.

When the storm was starting to die down, they brought the team out to start warming up. Aaron lost his mind when he saw Jeffy in his uniform. My brother snagged an awesome video of him cheering for Jeffy and asking to wear his helmet.
We finally made it out to the field after 10 pm and kickoff was around 10:15ish, I think.

We didn't stay too long though, Scott and I had to work the next morning and the kiddos had to go to camp. The team ended up winning, which is awesome!

We met up with my brother and his family on Saturday for a quick dip in the pool and then another afternoon at Magic Kingdom.

Again, it was really hot and humid, but still a ton of fun. My brother, niece and Jill went on Splash Mountain and were soaked! Jill kept reminding me throughout the day that her pants were in fact still wet.

We also went on the speedway. I think my sister-in-law was the smartest one in the group because she rode solo. Aaron and Art rode together, Kaitlyn and Jill were in another car and Scott and I paired up. It was a fun little trip around the track, with only a hint of whiplash.

We knew Jeffy was coming with his group so we headed to the front of the park to meet up with him.

Again, Aaron was just beyond excited to see him. He was also with some of his teammates and Aaron was ready to be one of the boys. At one point he walked up to me and said, "Bye Mom, I'm going with the boys."

After we met up with Jeffy, we made another visit to the ice cream shop and settled in to watch the parade. Kaitlyn and I were also able to sneak away and ride Space Mountain (Kaitlyn actually rode it twice).


It was such a fun visit with my brother and his family. I love when they come to town and cannot wait to see them again at Thanksgiving.

The Family That Runs Together

Scott and the kiddos ran the Lake Nona Pig Run 5k this weekend (you can read all about it at Southern Fried Fat Guy!) while I sat on the sidelines.

It was strange to not run in the race with everyone, but someone had to sit with the kiddos and there was nothing about eating glazed donuts at the 1.7 mile marker that appealed to me. Plus, Scott wanted to walk this race for a while.

I had a blast cheering everyone on during the race, but I definitely missed participating. Even Leann sent me a message that said it was weird to see race photos with me in jeans.

Then I got to thinking...which can be dangerous...what if we all ran a race together? I don't think it's unreasonable. Do you?

So there it is...my new goal for 2014. Complete a race as a family, because after all, the family that runs together, stays together.

Visits with the Family

My nephew and his girlfriend have been in town for the past few days and the kiddos have been able to hang out with them.

The kids have been attached to both Alex and Jenna. This was one of the rare photos where Jill was not attached to Jenna's hip, so I had to snag it.

Random story... Aaron thought Jenna's name was Janice and kept calling her that the entire walk into the park. I had to keep correcting him and almost called her Janice myself. Sigh...

Anyway....

Short trips like this just remind me how much I love living in a tourist destination because we can have little visits with family members that we wouldn't normally see on a regular basis.

Who Would Have Thought My First Ride Would Be The Carousel?

My brother and his kids are in town this week with friends and we were able to meet up with them last night. My original plan was to leave work not too long after lunch, grab the kids and make an afternoon of it, that definitely did not happen. The move from Friday is still lingering and I cannot wait for that fun project to be complete.

Anyway...

The kiddos have been excited to see everyone since I mentioned it on Sunday and they practically raced Kevin down the hallway to see their cousins. After some time in the room, we headed to Downtown Disney.

Aaron fit right in with all of the boys, and I'm not sure what it is about getting a group of boys together, but it definitely brings the sillies out. Jilly hung out with her Uncle Kevin while we were waiting for the bus. I'm pretty sure he heard all about the past week of her life at least a dozen times, plus or minus three.

When we arrived at Downtown Disney the kids took a ride on the carousel. As Adam says, "Who would have thought my first ride at Disney would be the carousel?"

It was then decided that we needed ice cream from Ghiradelli. If you know anything about my family, you know that we all love Ghiradelli ice cream and it is always somewhere we need to stop.

The ice cream trip worked out nicely because they were doing a dance showcase on the stage right by where we were sitting. I think all of the kids were thoroughly entertained while we waited for our treats.

When everything arrived I was surprised to see what Aaron ordered, apparently he just pointed to a picture and ordered a huge waffle cone with ice cream and sprinkles. He ate every bit of the ice cream and shared the cone.

After the ice cream we all headed over to the stage to see the show that they do at night. I guess you call it a show? They had a DJ playing music for all of the kids. We hung out for a while watching everything and then Jill disappeared with Meghan's friend Alex. Apparently, Jill thought Alex was a sucker and she could take her into the world of Disney to buy her something. You can't fault her for trying I guess.

I was hoping the kids would fall asleep on the way home from all of this, but not so much. They talked the entire way home and were up at their normal time this morning. They cannot wait to see their cousins and friends again today. I'm fairly certain they will talk the entire time again.

Needless to day, today is a several cups of coffee kind of a day.